How to Attract More Clients and Turn Them into Loyal Members

The law of attraction suggests that positive thoughts bring positive results. It’s based on the idea that thoughts create energy, and that energy can have ripple effects on your life—or in this case, business.

As a fitness studio owner, chances are you want to attract new members. Gaining new members (and retaining them!) is the key to long-term business success and revenue growth.

To achieve your goal of attracting more members and turning those treasured drop-ins into life-long members, you can start with positive thoughts. But to build sustainable growth, you’ll also want to invest in some organic-first strategies.

In this article, we’ll share how to optimize and elevate three key elements of your fitness studio: your conversion engine, your service offering, and your community. Keep reading to learn how.

Remove the barriers

Walk through the following processes and look for anything that could be seen as a hurdle or stumbling block for a prospective member.

• Finding information and pricing about your memberships and service offerings
• Signing up for a special offer (if applicable)
• Purchasing a membership and/or additional services
• Upgrading your membership or services

As you walk through each, ask yourself:

• Can they sign up online to become a member?
• Can they quickly find information and purchase services?
• How easy is it to sign up for free trials or drop-ins?
• Is it time-consuming for prospective members to access or purchase your services?
• Are there lags between when a customer is interested in engaging with your club or studio and when they can complete a purchase?

After you’ve mapped out your existing processes, go back through them and make it quick and painless for new members to learn and buy. If you don’t, you could be standing in your own way when it comes to business success.

Give them options

Modern consumers, including fitness enthusiasts, are looking for products and services that bring their aspirations a little closer and make them feel special. As a modern fitness studio, this means you need to take a good look at your service offerings, say goodbye to the traditional, and usher in an era of flexibility and fun.

• Offer more than just base memberships and personal training. If you’re still only sticking to the basic offerings, you’re leaving money on the table. Expand your services to include things like: habit coaching, nutrition coaching, fitness consultations, goal-setting sessions, virtual memberships, and more. With every new service you offer, you open up a new revenue stream for your business and one more way to attract and convert new members.
• Stop thinking of your services as in-person only. Let your members choose how and where they want to train with you. (Hello, we’re in the decade of digital fitness, and it’s time to cash in on that!) For every service you offer in person, provide an online equivalent. Once you’ve done that, combine the two and create hybrid options for everything you’re offering.
• Forget one-size-fits-most packages. Instead, offer mix-and-match or build-your-own options, allowing members to select the services they’re most drawn to and create their own customer-tailored experience at your club or studio.

Build a community (but not a clique)

Building a community starts with incentivizing behaviors. You can foster a community by building opportunities for your staff and members to connect with each other. Try to:

• Remember and use the names of your members
• Introduce new members to seasoned or long-time members
• During classes, ask who’s new and give them extra support/attention
• Run in-club events or social activities—including special events for new members
• Run challenges or contests and post leaderboards publicly with names and photos
• Explain terminology, processes, or form each and every time—especially during group workouts or classes
• Ask for feedback both online and in person

The toughest part of building a community is to make sure it doesn’t become so insular that new members feel unwelcome. Keep in mind that community-building needs to be an ongoing process—the best way to achieve this is to build community into your business’ culture and best practices. Always align the values of your community with your brand’s external identity. This way, from the very start, consumers that engage with your business will know who you are and where they fit in.

The law of attraction is an excellent start to attracting new members—but thoughts alone won’t get you there. Start with the three steps outlined above to grow your club’s membership and transform your drop-ins into life-long members.